Twitter Users Very Skeptical After Trump Condemns Mob Violence He Incited
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President Donald Trump is now condemning mob violence a week after he encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and overturn the election.
On Wednesday, a short time after Trump became the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, the White House released a video message in which Trump said he “unequivocally [condemns] the violence that we saw last week.”
“Mob violence goes against everything I believe in,” Trump said, referring to last week’s insurrection in which five people died. He added that “no true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence ... could ever disrespect law enforcement.”
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 13, 2021
Trump has refused to take responsibility for inciting the raid. Yet the day of the riot, he stirred up rallygoers and urged them to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” and “take back our country.” After failing to condemn the riot as it was happening, he told the insurrectionists they were “very special.”
Many Twitter users were therefore skeptical of the president’s disavowal of violence on Wednesday. Very skeptical.
"Give me a break," @DanaBashCNN says on Trump video.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) January 13, 2021
It's the "please don't convict me, my ego will never recover" plea, one week and two months too late. https://t.co/GfTerCIc47
— Dennis Mersereau (@wxdam) January 13, 2021
He literally says... “But I cannot emphasize that there must be no violence, no law breaking, and no vandalism of any kind.” I cannot emphasize. Either an inept team or a shout out to QAnon. https://t.co/MepuSAXWor
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 13, 2021
This is the kind of apology you make to the classroom after you were caught trying to steal the tests.
Also, the bit at the end about "censorship" is bullshit. https://t.co/QiwGrLrSUn— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) January 13, 2021
The guy who demonized reporters as “fake news” and repeatedly threatened the news media is now a free speech advocate. https://t.co/afOTNcLrkQ
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 13, 2021
It's so obvious he's reading the speech for the first time and has zero attachment to anything he's saying. https://t.co/IUaDBeGcqS
— Kylo Ren and Stimpy (@blaustein) January 13, 2021
The video was so bizarre that some people imagined what went on behind the scenes.
I would give an obscene amount of money for a behind the scenes video of President Trump being pushed and convinced to film this video which he will no doubt regret in 24 hours. https://t.co/01AXDEOKIn
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 13, 2021
These videos are nice but I prefer the wide angle version where you can see Pence repeatedly tapping an easel with a giant number "25" on it https://t.co/AtFUuU2tj1
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) January 13, 2021
Still, one person snarkily joked about how some commentators will inevitably view the president's video.
'Today is the day Donald Trump became President' https://t.co/ZpD3S6KVqv
— Raoul Wootliff (@RaoulWootliff) January 13, 2021
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
